WomenNC’s mission is to lead North Carolina’s young adults in the elimination of injustice against women and girls. Our vision is to raise a generation that will honor women’s human rights. This blog follows the experiences of our talented fellows. Enjoy reading about their journeys!

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Blog Post_Dina Shehata

I have learned so much throughout this fellowship and I
truly appreciate all of the amazing opportunities I was fortunate enough to experience.
I am certain that my time spent with WomenNC as a fellow will stay with me
throughout my future. I will hold off on all of the things I want to say about
this fellowship and WomenNC until my final blog post because there is
definitely so much I want to say!

Last week, I submitted the final draft of my research paper,
my reflection paper, and my reflection PowerPoint. I am glad I had the
opportunity to really soak up all of the information from CSW as I was writing
my reflection paper. Running around from event to event in NY and then
repeating the process day after day was exhausting to say the least and didn’t
leave much time for us to really absorb everything we had seen and heard. I am
really happy I was able to absorb all of the information I learned from the
diverse events I attended. It doesn’t seem real to me that this school year is
ending and the fellowship along with it. Many semesters have seemed to fly by
but this semester has gone by especially quickly. This semester has been the
most significant and challenging semesters of my life and I feel that I’m not
the same person who started her graduate degree in August of last year. I now
truly understand how important it is to live as if we will die tomorrow. We can’t
put off anything anymore. We can’t live our lives in a way that doesn’t serve
those around us. We need to benefit others through our many talents and
passions. We need to help all of those in need in any way that we can. If we truly want to make a difference in the
lives of women, in the lives of all who are suffering around the world, and in
the lives of our very own communities, we need to ACT. We need to act today not
tomorrow. I believe that is why there are so many issues of implementation. We
have endless discussions but there aren’t set actions that will take our ideas
and make them happen.

There is still a lot of work before this semester comes to
an end including finals and reflection presentations. I know all of the fellows
will be working hard this time of year and I wish them all luck! I also want to
thank all of the board members, Stephanie Scotti, Al Rosen, and all who have
helped us succeed throughout this fellowship. We couldn’t have done it without
you. I will see many of you at our first reflection presentation on Thursday,
April 9th and I hope everyone had happy holiday weekend with their
loved ones!

1 comment:

Your reflections presentations were exactly on-target. You've had a personally difficult, but also rewarding semester. And you made it--and grew! And you are impatient to do good in the world! Thanks for these comments--you make us proud!